Alibaba Is Desperate To Cut A Deal With THIS Yahoo Board--Before It's Replaced By A Smarter One

Kara Swisher has written a long "state of Yahoo" story that describes, well, the state of Yahoo in the 90 days since the Board canned Carol Bartz and embarked on a soul-searching mission that continues to this day.

(Hardly surprising, and symbolic, given that indecision has paralyzed the company for a decade. Kara also reports that the board can't agree on whether Yahoo is a "media company" or a "products company." Which is even more of a problem).

2) Alibaba and Softbank, Yahoo's two Asian partners, are desperately trying to cut a deal with the current Yahoo board, because they worry that the next Yahoo board will be smarter.

So, in other words, Yahoo shareholders and employees should rest assured that their future is in good hands.

(On a more sociological note, Yahoo's board is a classic illustration of how, when you ask a bunch of smart people to work together and agree on something, they can collectively become as a dumb as a rock. Individually, many of Yahoo's board members are charming, articulate, experienced, and smart. Together, they're Congress.)

DISCLOSURE: I work for Yahoo, as a host of the Yahoo Finance show Daily Ticker. I am a Yahoo shareholder (since 1998--oof).I know tons of people at Yahoo and on Yahoo's board. I know lots of Yahoo investors, many of whom I like personally. I know Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, and many of the other players in this drama, and I like them personally. Marc's an investor in Business Insider, which I greatly appreciate. Yahoo and Business Insider have a syndication partnership, which I am happy about. Yahoo's bankers, Allen & Co, are investors in Business Insider, and I like them personally and don't like to do things that make them mad at me. I have relationships with dozens of other folks that might create conflicts of one sort or another when I write about this topic. So, basically, I'm conflicted out the wazoo.